North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Cold snaps

Duck standing on ice in Stockholm, 1999. The purple/blue colour cast was due to the fading light and a characteristic of Velvia slide film.

The Guardian ran a story on Saturday about the chances of a cold winter this year. The chances are good, apparently, based on the signs. And those signs would be?

Well, the first sign is the huge number of waxwings in the UK, feasting on the bumper crop of autumn berries that still festoon hedges around the country. Some of them have made it to Ireland too, and there is certainly no shortage of food in the hedgerows. Another sign is supposed to be a halo around the moon in an otherwise clear sky. To be honest, I think that you have a good chance of seeing such a phenomenom on any frosty night.

I seem to remember similar talk last year. Every time we have a reasonably mild Autumn, the natural inclination is that Winter will exact retribution. Didn't happen last year, and hopefully, it won't happen this year either. Though, from a photographer's point of view, a bit of snow is always nice.

PS The Guardian also ran a story about Ireland's poor environmental record. It makes grim reading.